'Casting' Decisions Are Protected Speech
Casting decisions made by local news networks qualify as
protected speech and cannot be challenged in an employment discrimination
lawsuit, a California appeals court ruled, according to Courthouse News.
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| Kyle Hunter |
Meteorologist
Kyle Hunter sued CBS Broadcasting in 2012 after he claimed its two LA-area
affiliates - KCBS and KCAL - "repeatedly shunned him for numerous on-air
broadcasting decisions due to his gender and age." He added that as early
as 2010 network executives had decided to turn the primetime weather gig over
to "younger attractive females."
Hunter claimed
that KCAL even posted a "sham" job notice for its weather anchor
position after it had already hired a young, blonde female to fill the
position. He added that while he has 23 years of weather forecasting experience
- and is certified by the American Meteorological Society - the new hire lacked
certification and only had "two or three years of experience."
CBS moved to
strike Hunter's complaint using the anti-SLAPP statute, an acronym for
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, and argued that its selection
of on-air personalities qualifies as protected speech. The stations' news
director added that weather information is the main reason why people watch
local news, and weather personalities have a significant impact on ratings as a
result.
Los Angeles
County Superior Court Judge Ramona G. See refused to dismiss Hunter's case,
holding that CBS had failed to show its hiring decisions had anything to do
with free speech in connection with a public issue.
On appeal, Second Appellate District Judge
Laurie D. Zelon disagreed. She noted that numerous courts - mostly in the
Second Appellate District - have held that reporting the news and creating TV
shows count as free-speech activities.
"CBS's
selections of its KCBS and KCAL weather anchors, which were essentially casting
decisions regarding who was to report the news on a local television newscast,
'helped advance or assist' both forms of First Amendment expression,"
Zelon wrote. "The conduct therefore qualifies as a form of protected
activity."
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